Joshua Isgrigg
Joshua Isgrigg is a neo-nazi and convicted elder abuser and bomb-maker living in Porterville, CA. He is connected to the White Lives Matter and Active Club neo-nazi networks, which have promoted his banner drops and activities. In 2020, he was caught with over 100lbs of bomb-making materials but is currently back on the streets. Due to his pattern of violent abuse, exterminationist ideology, and history of bomb-making, he should be considered a danger to any in his community.
Arrests
On April 5 2020, a neighbor called police after hearing Joshua Isgrigg’s elderly relative calling for aid. Isgrigg, who lived in the home and was the primary caretaker for this relative, had spit in their face and taken their vehicle without permission. The relative reported that Isgrigg had a history of violent and financial abuse. In June of 2020, Isgrigg was stopped by police and found to be in possession of 56 lbs of Ammonium Nitrate and hexamine–chemicals that could be used to manufacture an explosve device similar to the one used in the Oklahoma City bombing. Subsequent searches found that he had additional explosive precursors and bomb-making supplies in his home. Isgrigg also made statements that he had been testing mixtures of the precursor as explosives. In January 2021, Isgrigg pled guilty to felony charges of physical and financial elder abuse, as well as possession of bomb-making materials. He was apparently released sometime in 2022, after serving only two years for the felony charges of physical elder abuse, financial elder abuse, and possession of over 100 lbs of explosive precursor.
Subsequent activity
Joshua Isgrigg performs a nazi salute at a children’s drag story hour in Sacramento, 4/16/23
Since being released from prison, Isgrigg has quickly jumped into public neo-Nazi activity. By July 1, 2022, Isgrigg had created a telegram account and uploaded photos with neo-Nazi imagery, and sometime between then and April 2023, Isgrigg’s telegram account had joined the White Lives Matter California chat. On April 16, Isgrigg made the four-hour trip to Sacramento, to harass a drag story hour that had been targeted by the WLM group. Isgrigg threw Nazi salutes while standing along three members of the Proud Boys. After it ended, several community members confronted Isgrigg, and he retreated into a Chinese restaurant where he hid for 20 minutes while Sacramento Police blockaded the door to prevent anyone else from entering. After activists warned off his Uber driver, Sacramento PD eventually ferried him into their own car and drove him away.
Isgrigg gives a nazi salute out the window of a car after a banner drop in Templeton, CA.
Isgrigg continued to join in public displays of his Naziism. On April 21 2023, Isgrigg and another neo-Nazi were photographed hanging a banner reading “Embrace White Pride” from an overpass in Porterville, CA. On April 29, Isgrigg appeared with another neo-Nazi holding a banner on an overpass over highway 101 in Templeton, CA. After the community responded with an anti-hate rally at the location, Isgrigg returned with three other nazis on May 13–WLM’s announced day of action. This time, the neo-Nazis were confronted and chased off, but not before community members were able to get pictures of their faces and vehicle. Isgrigg again used a photo from this event as his profile picture on Telegram.
Joshua Isgrigg’s activity over this span shows several ties to the White Lives Matter (WLM) and Active Club movements. These movements are two closely connected neo-Nazi campaigns that have come to prominence over the last two years. The WLM movement was launched in April 2021 as a way for neo-Nazis to engage in public displays of white nationalism through a loosely-organized and decentralized network. This mostly took the shape of banner drops, stickering, and occasional small rallies. The active clubs rose out of this, creating a network of neo-Nazi fight clubs designed in the image of the defunct “Rise Above Movement”, which had similar goals. In practice, the Active Club movement is closely tied to WLM, with significant overlap in membership.
A post by the Norcal Active Club adminitrator on telegram, saying that they would relay praise of Isgrigg to him directly
The initial call to action for neo-Nazis to harass the Drag Queen Story Hour in Sacramento was made by NorCal Active Club, and promoted by WLM California. Screenshots from the WLM telegram chat also show Isgrigg’s “Maelstrom” account responding to those calls by contacting another account in response to an apparently deleted message. After the event, Norcal Active Club responded to praise of Isgrigg in a different chat with a statement that they would relay that praise to Isgrigg himself. Additionally, WLM California’s twitter account claimed responsibility for the April 29th “Embrace White Pride” banner drop, which was put on by Isgrigg and one other neo-Nazi. Both WLM California and Norcal Active Club promoted images of that and the May 13th banner drop.
Ideology
Joshua Isgrigg is overt and open neo-Nazi. On his youtube account, he states that he is a “literal Nazi” . He also does not shy away from openly displaying Nazi imagery, and at the April 16 story hour event, Isgrigg wore a shirt bearing the Nazi war Eagle and swastika, and repeatedly performed Nazi salutes. In video captured at the 5/13 banner drop in Templeton, CA, Isgrig said it was “good” that a woman’s Jewish ancestors were killed by Nazis during world war II. He also called Black Lives Matter protesters “monkeys destroying their cities” and that he would “see [them] in the Boog”, referencing the an online meme name for a second civil war.
Aside from his overt Naziism, another concerning element of Isgrigg’s worldview is demonstrated by a post under his name on a California-based webpage devoted to gang-stalking. Gang-stalking is a phenomenon wherein people experience delusions that much of the outside world are engaged in a conspiracy targeting them in particular. This presents a concerning level of paranoia and separation from reality, particularly for someone with a history of violent behavior and hateful ideology. Isgrigg had also reportedly made apocalyptic references during his investigation.
Confirming identity
Left: Isgrigg’s Facebook photo, as reported by the ADL. Right: A photo which was at one point used as Isgrigg’s profile picture on Telegram.
Shortly after his appearance at the drag story hour at Poppy + Pot, Joshua Isgrigg uploaded photos of himself at the rally, including first-person video, to his telegram account, under the username @guttedman1488 (since changed to @maelstrom1488). He also claimed responsibility in at least one telegram chatroom. This account also featured photos of him wearing matching clothing, uploaded weeks prior to the event.
Left: a photo posted from Isgrigg’s “Maelstrom” telegram account. Right: a photo for a profile of Joshua Isgrigg from a body-building competition in 2016. Identical moles are visible in each.
One of the photos Isgrigg had uploaded to his telegram account is a modified version of a photo he had previously used as a profile picture on Facebook, which had been included in reports by the ADL. Another photo shows a shirtless man posing in a gym mirror with his face covered by a totenkopf. This photo shows two distinctive moles that match moles shown in photos of Isgrigg on a competitive body-building website. Additinal circumstantial evidence abounds, such as his presence at a banner drop in his small hometown of Porterville, and comments under his name on an Etsy listing of a hat identical to the one he wore in both Sacramento and SLO. Isgrigg was also found to have made mention of a “Maelstrom Division” during investigations after his arrest. He would later use Maelstrom as his telegram display name.
Conclusions
Finally, I want to draw up some threads that have shown throughout Isgrigg’s story. In 2021, Isgrigg took a plea deal, pleading no contest to three felony charges: physical elder abuse, financial elder abuse, and possession of explosive materials, charges which would normally carry a 6-12 year sentence. Less than two years later, Isgrigg is back out on the streets and immediately threw in his lot with the WLM movement, going so far as to travel four hours to Sacramento, apparently alone, for an event. In Sacramento, he got suspiciously friendly treatment from police, including valet service away from protesters at the end of the event. In SLO, he was also seen liaising with officers, and in one clip could be overheard offering up his ID. I will leave it to the reader to draw their own conclusions about what might tie all these threads together, but I’ll note that the neo-nazi movement is notorious for harboring informants.
Joshua Isgrigg in Sacramento, under police protection shortly before being escorted into a police car and driven away
Regardless of the circumstances surrounding Joshua Isgrigg’s release from incaceration and subsequent re-entry to the neo-nazi movement, he is a danger to any who are around him. He has a clear and deeply concerning history of violence, coupled with a hateful and paranoid worldview. If he is collaborating with law enforcement, it is shameful that they would enable such an individual to be active in our communities. For all of the above reasons, it is imperative that Joshua Isgrigg be exposed.